RBI sets up expert panel on benchmarking of its statistics; Michael Patra to head committee

Reserve Bank of India

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on August 12 constituted an expert committee on benchmarking statistics regularly disseminated by it, which will be headed by deputy governor Michael Debabrata Patra.

The committee has been set up to benchmark the statistics regularly disseminated by it against global standards/ best practices, study the quality of other regular data, where such benchmarks do not exist (e.g., sectors of national priority), and provide guidance on the scope for any further data refinement, the RBI said in a release.

The 10-member 'Expert Committee on Benchmarking of its Statistics' will submit its report by the end of November 2024.

Other members from the RBI who will be part of the committee are Executive Director Muneesh Kapur, and OP Mall, Executive Director, who has been appointed the convenor. Other members include RB Barman, Former Chairman, National Statistical Commission; Sonalde Desai, National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), New Delhi and University of Maryland, USA; Partha Ray, Director, National Institute of Bank Management, Pune; Bimal Roy, Former Chairman, National Statistical Commission and Former Director, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.

Paul Schreyer, Former Chief Statistician, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Paul Schreyer, Former Chief Statistician, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); and Bruno Tissot, Head of Statistics and Research Support, Bank for International Settlements (BIS), will also be part of the committee, the RBI said.